New to Claude Skills? Learn how to install them →

ar9av on GitHub

Wiki Capture

Free

Transform conversations into structured wiki notes.

Get this skill

Free · Opens the source repo

What Wiki Capture does

Wiki Capture is a skill designed to help users preserve knowledge from conversations in a structured format. By converting discussions into permanent wiki notes, it allows for easy retrieval and organization of valuable information. This skill is particularly useful for developers and designers who often engage in problem-solving discussions and need a reliable way to document insights and findings for future reference.

The skill operates in three distinct modes: Full mode, Quick mode, and Correction mode. In Full mode, it classifies the content of the conversation and writes a comprehensive wiki page into the appropriate category, ensuring that the knowledge is well-organized and easily accessible. Quick mode, on the other hand, allows users to quickly drop findings into a staging area with minimal overhead, making it ideal for capturing insights mid-session without interrupting the flow of conversation. Finally, Correction mode enables users to document corrections to previously captured claims, ensuring that the wiki remains accurate and up-to-date.

By utilizing the Config Resolution Protocol, Wiki Capture can intelligently route captured content to designated vaults, making it adaptable to various workflows. It is particularly beneficial for teams that rely on collaborative knowledge sharing, as it helps maintain a centralized repository of insights that can be referenced later. Whether you are troubleshooting a bug, discussing a new feature, or sharing best practices, Wiki Capture streamlines the process of turning ephemeral conversations into lasting documentation.

This skill is suited for individuals and teams who prioritize knowledge management and documentation in their workflows. It is especially valuable for those who frequently engage in technical discussions and need a systematic way to capture and organize their insights for ongoing reference and collaboration.

When to use it

Use Wiki Capture when you want to document discussions or findings from conversations, especially in technical contexts.

When not to use it

Avoid using this skill for casual conversations that do not yield actionable insights or knowledge worth preserving.

What you can build with it

Documenting a Bug Fix

After discussing a bug fix during a meeting, use Wiki Capture to save the details and steps taken to resolve the issue.

Capturing Technical Insights

During a technical discussion, quickly capture non-obvious findings or surprising behavior of an API using Quick mode.

Updating Documentation

Use Correction mode to accurately update a previously documented claim when new information comes to light.

How to install Wiki Capture

View source

1. Install with the skills CLI

npx skills add ar9av/obsidian-wiki/wiki-capture --agent claude-code

2. Or install it manually

Download the skill folder and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or .claude/skills/ to scope it to one repo. Restart Claude Code so it picks up the new skill.

Anthropic's agentic coding CLI, and the reference implementation of Agent Skills. Drop a skill folder into ~/.claude/skills and Claude Code loads it automatically whenever a task matches the skill's description. Claude Code docs

Inside SKILL.md

Written by ar9av

Wiki Capture — Conversation to Wiki Note

You are preserving knowledge from the current conversation as a permanent wiki note. The goal is to extract the substance — the knowledge itself — not a summary of what was said.

This skill has three modes:

  • Full mode (default) — classify the content and write a finished, cross-linked wiki page directly into the right category. This is the rest of this document (Steps 1–7).
  • Quick mode (--quick) — zero-friction staging: drop findings to _raw/ in under 60 seconds with no manifest/index/log/QMD writes. Used for mid-session capture and by the session-end Stop hook. See below, then stop — do not run the full-mode steps.
  • Correction mode (--correction) — capture one atomic correction as derived knowledge while leaving the immutable conversation/source untouched. Use the template below, then update only the derived consumers and tracking links.

Quick Mode (--quick)

Trigger when invoked as /wiki-capture --quick, by "quick capture" / "capture this finding" / "save this bug fix" / "save this gotcha" / "drop this to raw" / "quick save to wiki", or automatically by the session-end Stop hook.

Speed contract: Inline only. No subagents. No QMD. No manifest/index.md/log.md/hot.md writes. Target: <60 seconds. Promotion to full wiki pages happens later via /wiki-ingest.

  1. Resolve config (Config Resolution Protocol in llm-wiki/SKILL.md): get OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH and OBSIDIAN_RAW_DIR (default: $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/_raw). Ensure $OBSIDIAN_RAW_DIR exists; create it if not.

    Capture does not independently reinterpret validator schema inputs. When OBSIDIAN_ALLOWED_LIFECYCLES, OBSIDIAN_ALLOWED_RELATIONSHIP_TYPES, OBSIDIAN_REQUIRED_TRUST_FIELDS, or OBSIDIAN_SCHEMA_SOURCE is present, preserve it for the downstream lint/trust consumer: CLI values take precedence over environment/config values, which take precedence over framework defaults, and explicit blank or whitespace-only values fail closed. Omit a variable to use defaults.

  2. Gate — KEEP or SKIP? Before extracting, judge whether this session has capture value. This keeps the skill safe to call automatically without spamming _raw/.

    • SKIP (exit with "Nothing worth capturing in this session.") if ALL are true: the conversation is purely conversational (planning/Q&A/explanation) with no implementation; no errors, debugging, or problem-solving visible; nothing surprising or undocumented; every finding is already obvious from the docs.
    • KEEP (proceed) if ANY are true: a fix or workaround was found through investigation; non-obvious library/API/framework behavior was confirmed (edge case, undocumented constraint, time-costing gotcha); a debugging session reached a concrete conclusion; a reusable pattern emerged.
    • When invoked via the Stop hook, err toward SKIP — only KEEP on clear evidence. When invoked manually, err toward KEEP — the user called it for a reason.
  3. Scan for reusable findings — non-obvious bugs and root causes, framework/library gotchas, surprising API behavior, investigated workarounds, environment/toolchain quirks, patterns from debugging. Skip PM updates, config already in CLAUDE.md, inconclusive back-and-forth, anything obvious from the docs, and pleasantries. If nothing material emerged, say so and stop.

  4. Cluster by topic — one _raw/ file per topic cluster, not per finding. Name each as a kebab-case slug (e.g. swift-actor-reentrancy, nextjs-hydration-mismatch).

  5. Infer project context from repo names, file paths, framework mentions, error messages. Use the most specific name you can reliably infer; else null.

  6. Write raw files — for each cluster, write $OBSIDIAN_RAW_DIR/<ISO-date>-<slug>.md. Read references/RAW-FORMAT.md for the full frontmatter spec, finding-block body structure, and provenance/confidence calibration. Per-cluster fields that vary: title, tags (2–4 from taxonomy), summary (≤200 chars), project (inferred or null), base_confidence (0.6 discussed → 0.75 fix applied → 0.9 test confirmed), provenance.extracted/provenance.inferred (sum to 1.0), lifecycle_changed (today), sources ("<project> session (<YYYY-MM-DD>)").

  7. Confirm — list staged files and tell the user to run /wiki-ingest to promote them:

    Staged to _raw/:
      _raw/2026-05-27-swift-actor-reentrancy.md   — "Actor reentrancy causes deadlock in async forEach"
    Run /wiki-ingest to promote these to full wiki pages.
    

    Quick mode deliberately does not write the manifest, index.md, log.md, hot.md, or refresh QMD — promotion via /wiki-ingest handles all of that. Stop here; do not run the full-mode steps below.


Correction Mode (--correction)

Use this mode when a user or stronger authority corrects a claim derived from an immutable conversation, tool result, or other raw source. Never edit or copy the raw source. Resolve config, read the vault AGENTS.md, and update an existing derived page when one owns the claim; otherwise create the smallest owner-compliant derived correction page.

Record exactly one atomic claim pair. speaker_type is semantic and must be assessed independently of a serialized message role (a tool result may be serialized as role=user). Do not include raw transcript excerpts.

correction_id: <stable-id>
source_locator: <immutable file:line or channel/thread/timestamp>
source_text_sha256: <64 lowercase hex chars>
serialized_role: <source role, if present>
speaker_type: user | assistant | teammate | tool_result | slack_member
original_claim:
  subject: <exact entity or capability>
  assertion: <single atomic value>
corrected_claim:
  subject: <same exact entity or capability>
  assertion: <single atomic value or null>
authority_class: contract | decision | code | test | deploy | runtime | db | narrative
verification_state: verified | inferred | unverified | contradicted
asserted_at: <ISO-8601 timestamp>
effective_at: <ISO-8601 timestamp or null>
as_of: <ISO-8601 timestamp>
supersedes: [<original-claim-id>]
consumer_propagation:
  kw: open | not_applicable | complete
  ob: open | not_applicable | complete
  requirements: open | not_applicable | complete
  code: open | not_applicable | complete
  tests: open | not_applicable | complete
  ai_memory: open | not_applicable | complete
corrected_at: <ISO-8601 timestamp>

Before any derived write, compute source_pre_sha256 directly from the immutable source and require it to equal source_text_sha256. After writing the correction and updating derived consumers, recompute source_post_sha256 from the same locator. Abort and report an immutability violation unless source_pre_sha256 == source_post_sha256 == source_text_sha256. This verification is mandatory even when the correction write succeeds.

After writing the derived correction, link the immutable source to the created/updated page through .manifest.json, append only the correction ID and affected-page counts to log.md, and propagate the atomic correction to every consumer independently. Mark a consumer complete only after verifying that consumer; do not collapse mixed results into a single aggregate status. Keep secrets, raw excerpts, and source copies out of the correction record.


Full Mode

Before You Start

  1. Resolve config — follow the Config Resolution Protocol in llm-wiki/SKILL.md (inline @name override → walk up CWD for .env~/.obsidian-wiki/config → prompt setup). This gives OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH and OBSIDIAN_LINK_FORMAT (default: wikilink).
  2. Read $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/index.md to understand existing wiki content (avoid duplicates)
  3. Read $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/hot.md if it exists — it gives context on recent activity

When writing internal links in Step 5, apply the link format from llm-wiki/SKILL.md (Link Format section) using the OBSIDIAN_LINK_FORMAT value.

Step 1: Identify What's Worth Preserving

Scan the conversation. Ask: what knowledge emerged here that would be valuable in 3 months with no memory of this chat?

Worth preserving:

  • Decisions made and why they were made
  • Analysis, frameworks, mental models developed
  • Technical findings, patterns, or procedures
  • Synthesized understanding of a topic
  • Clear explanations of a concept that took effort to arrive at
  • Key facts from an external source discussed in the conversation

Skip:

  • Logistics, scheduling, pleasantries
  • Exploratory back-and-forth where no conclusion was reached
  • Content that's already in the wiki

If nothing material emerged, tell the user and stop.

Step 2: Classify the Content Type

Assign one of five types — this determines the target folder and tone:

TypeDescriptionTarget folder
synthesisMulti-step analysis or an answer to a specific question that required reasoningsynthesis/
conceptA definition, framework, or mental model (what a thing is)concepts/
sourceSummary of an external document, article, or resource discussedreferences/
decisionA strategic, architectural, or design choice and its rationalesynthesis/
sessionA complete discussion summary when the conversation spans multiple topicsjournal/

If the content clearly belongs to a specific project (detected from context or user mention), place it under projects/<project-name>/<category>/ instead.

Step 3: Rewrite as Declarative Knowledge

Do not write a summary of the conversation. Write the knowledge itself, in declarative present tense:

  • Not: "The user asked about X and Claude explained that..."
  • Yes: "X works by..."
  • Not: "We decided to use Y because..."
  • Yes: "Y is preferred over Z because [reason]. [^[inferred] if the rationale was implied, not stated explicitly]"

Apply provenance markers per llm-wiki:

  • Extracted — explicitly stated in the conversation (no marker)
  • Inferred — generalized or synthesized from the conversation → ^[inferred]
  • Ambiguous — disputed, uncertain, or contradictory → ^[ambiguous]

Step 4: Generate a Slug and Title

Derive a clear, descriptive title from the content. Slugify it:

  • Lowercase, words separated by hyphens
  • Max 50 characters
  • Avoid dates in the slug (the frontmatter has created)

Step 5: Write the Wiki Note

Create the file at the target path with required frontmatter:

---
title: >-
  <Title>
category: <synthesis|concepts|references|journal|skills>
tags: [<2-5 domain tags from taxonomy>]
sources:
  - conversation:<ISO-date>
created: <ISO-8601 timestamp>
updated: <ISO-8601 timestamp>
summary: >-
  <1-2 sentences, ≤200 chars, answering "what knowledge does this page hold?">
provenance:
  extracted: 0.X
  inferred: 0.X
  ambiguous: 0.X
base_confidence: 0.42
lifecycle: draft
lifecycle_changed: <ISO date today>
---

Body structure by type:

synthesis / decision:

# Title

## Context
<What prompted this — the problem or question being addressed>

## Finding / Decision
<The core knowledge or conclusion>

## Reasoning
<Why this is the case or why this choice was made>

## Implications
<What follows from this — what to watch for, next steps, trade-offs>

## Related
<[[wikilinks]] to connected pages>

concept:

# Title

<Definition in one clear sentence.>

## What It Is
<Explanation of the concept>

## How It Works
<Mechanism or structure>

## When to Use
<Applicability, conditions, trade-offs>

## Related
<[[wikilinks]]>

source:

# Title

> Source: <title or URL>

## What It Covers
<What the source is about>

## Key Points
<Bulleted claims with provenance markers>

## Open Questions
<What it raises but doesn't answer — omit if none>

## Related
<[[wikilinks]]>

session:

# Title

*Session captured: <date>*

## Topics Covered
<Brief list>

## Key Takeaways
<The 3-5 most important things that emerged>

## Decisions Made
<Any explicit decisions, with rationale>

## Open Questions
<What remains unresolved>

## Related
<[[wikilinks]]>

Every note must link to at least 2 existing wiki pages. Search index.md before writing. If fewer than 2 related pages exist, create minimal stubs for the most important concepts referenced.

Step 6: Update Tracking Files

index.md — Add the new page under its category section.

log.md — Append:

- [TIMESTAMP] CAPTURE type=<type> page="<path>" title="<title>"

hot.md — Update Recent Activity with what was just captured. Update Key Takeaways if the note introduced something worth flagging. Update updated timestamp.

Step 7: Confirm to User

Report the saved path and title:

Saved to: projects/<name>/synthesis/<slug>.md
Title: <Title>
Type: synthesis

Quality Checklist

  • Content rewritten as declarative knowledge (not a chat transcript)
  • Type classified correctly; target path is in the right folder
  • Frontmatter complete with title, category, tags, sources, summary, provenance
  • At least 2 wikilinks to existing pages
  • index.md, log.md, and hot.md updated
  • Confirmed save path to user

QMD Refresh After Vault Writes

QMD is a search index, not the source of truth. If $QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION is empty or unset, skip this step. Run it only after this skill has written or rewritten vault markdown. If QMD refresh fails, do not roll back the vault changes; report the QMD status separately.

Use $QMD_CLI if set; otherwise use qmd.

${QMD_CLI:-qmd} update

If the output says vectors are needed or embeddings may be stale, run:

${QMD_CLI:-qmd} embed

Verify the collection with either:

${QMD_CLI:-qmd} ls "$QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION"

or, when a specific page path is known:

${QMD_CLI:-qmd} get "qmd://$QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION/<page>.md" -l 5

Record one of:

  • QMD refreshed: update + embed + verified
  • QMD refreshed: update only + verified
  • QMD skipped: QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION unset
  • QMD skipped: qmd CLI unavailable
  • QMD failed: <short error summary>

Frequently asked questions about Wiki Capture

Similar skills